Sky Watch
Weather and astronomy
Real Name: David Tewes Member Since: September 24, 2007 Last Signed In: October 09, 2008 Profile Views: 1627 Blog Views: 6163 Astronomy Day 2008 Of droughts and floods Hubble Space Telescope fails Tropics getting busy Astroimages for you desktop Hurricane season isn't over for Texas yet Ike's storm surge could have caused serious problems locally Be sure to catch the planets tonight Hurricane Ike's wild winds Ike is still approaching the coast September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 
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The tropics have certainly quieted down since last week.
There’s a cluster of thunderstorms off the Louisiana Coast Tuesday afternoon. I can’t see a low pressure system associated with it and the National Hurricane Center makes no mention of it in its outlook. There’s also an area of clouds that moved off the African coast, in the same general area Hurricane Dolly got its start. The hurricane center gives it only a marginal chance of developing. Enjoy the peace and quiet for now. It could get hectic again in a few weeks.
One of the best meteor showers of the year is on tap for next month.
The annual Perseid meteor shower will peak in the eastern sky before daybreak on Tuesday, Aug. 12. But some of the “shooting stars” make their debut a few nights earlier. The meteor shower gets its name because the meteors appear to be radiating from the constellation Perseus. They are actually debris left behind by the Comet Swift-Tuttle. For more details, check out science.nasa.gov.
Things are started to get interesting down the coast as Hurricane Dolly moves toward Texas.
I’m seeing a wind gust to 63 mph at Port Isabel and a barometric pressure reading of 29.40. That pressure is lower than we recorded in Victoria in 2003 during Hurricane Claudette, which produced a gust to 84 mph here. A tornado warning has just been posted for southern Nueces County near Corpus Christi. Anyone have reports from friends or family in the storm?
The 10 a.m. Tuesday update from the National Hurricane Center continues to lessen the threat from Tropical Storm Dolly for the Victoria area.
A hurricane warning from Corpus Christi to Port O’Connor has been replaced with a tropical storm warning. Dolly has 70 mph winds and was approaching hurricane strength as it heads for the Brownsville area, with landfall forecast for Wednesday. The hurricane center gives Victoria and Calhoun counties only a 30- to 40-percent chance of winds of 40 mph or higher. The odds are 40- to 50-percent for Refugio and Goliad.
It looks like Tropical Storm Dolly has strengthened overnight, but the forecast track has shifted south from yesterday.
That should lessen the chance of a serious wind threat in the Victoria area, but the rain chances will be on the rise. Dolly’s winds were up to 65 mph and the storm was 265 miles southeast of Brownsville. It’s moving west-northwest at 13 mph. The last forecast takes it into Mexico about 50 miles south of Brownsville. Victoria’s rain chances jump to 40 percent tonight and 60 percent Wednesday. The National Weather Service believes there’s a chance of tropical storm conditions Wednesday and Wednesday night. That might be stretching it. What do you think?
It seems like it took forever, but the tropical system I’ve been blogging about for a week has finally exploded and could be a threat for the Victoria area.
It became Tropical Storm Dolly over the weekend as it headed for the Yucatan and should be a hurricane by the time it makes landfall south of Victoria Wednesday. The thing I’ve noticed is that with just about each forecast, the National Hurricane Center keeps nudging the landfall forecast farther north. Changes in the forecast are to be expected, but the National Weather Service tells me heavy rain and flooding should be the biggest problem around Victoria. In fact, they’re predicting 5 to 10 inches. I’m not so sure about that, but stranger things have happened. Tropical storm force winds of 40 mph or higher are also possible. Is anybody taking any precautions for this one?
The tropical low pressure I blogged about earlier this week waned for a while, but it appears to be regaining its strength.
It’s just a few hundred miles from the Windward Islands and headed for the Caribbean. And the National Hurricane Center thinks odds are better than even it will develop into a tropical depression.
Most people have heard of a blue moon or a harvest moon.
But what about a wolf moon or a hare moon? There’s actually a name for each full moon of the month. For a listing, check out Keith’s Moon Page. There will be a full moon Wednesday and it’s called a hay moon. I would assume that has something to do with the harvest season, but I’m not sure. Anyone have an answer?
Even as Tropical Storm Bertha spins its way through the Atlantic Ocean, another system appears poised to keep weather watchers busy.
A tropical low pressure was located 1,200 miles east of the Lesser Antilles on Monday. The National Hurricane Center is saying conditions appear favorable for the system to become a tropical depression at any time. All of the computer models I’ve seen either bring the storm into the Caribbean or toward it. One has it as a hurricane in two weeks. Only time will tell.
That unusually bright light in the southern sky just after sunset is no UFO.
It’s the planet Jupiter, which will be making it’s closest approach to the Earth this year on Wednesday, July 9. The planet is so bright, a telescope and sky map won’t be needed to identify it. But even a small telescope will help bring out some detail, including four of the largest moons and the cloud belts. Spaceweather.com has more details.
Ever wondered how much it rained in your neighborhood compared to the official National Weather Service report?
There’s a way to find out if you have a computer and Internet access. It’s called CoCoRaHS, which is short for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network. The organization is a group of volunteers measuring precipitation in Texas and elsewhere across the nation. The rainfall reported by the weather service for Victoria isn’t actually measured in the city. The rain gauge is at the Victoria Regional Airport. CoCoRaHS has eight rainfall reporters in Victoria County alone, including four within the city of Victoria. There are still others spread out in the surrounding counties.
If we can get a clear sky, there will be two shows over Victoria on July 4.
One, of course, will be the city’s annual fireworks display at the Victoria Community Center. The other is a parade of planets visible to the unaided eye. Red Mars and ringed Saturn converge just to the left of the bright star Regulus, according to the science.nasa.gov Web site. Click on this link for a sky map. But that is just the beginning, according to the Web site. On Saturday, July 5, a crescent moon joins the show. Saturn, Mars, and the moon trace an even brighter line than the night before: sky map.
It was no drought breaker, but Tuesday's rain was a welcome relief.
Officially, the National Weather Service rain gauge located at the Victoria Regional Airport only recorded 0.30 of an inch. They're going to have to clean the bird nest out of that thing. ;>) Weather radar estimated some areas of Victoria County might have received as much as 2 inches. Anyone have any reports to pass along? |
